Peabody Elementary Accelerated Reader Winter Break Challenge! Chance to win Grizzlies tickets!

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Accelerated Reader Winter Break Challenge!

Your child has heard about this already at school, but wanted to make sure that parents got the skinny, too. On the last day before winter break, Ms. Jones announced an exciting Accelerated Reader Winter Break Challenge for all students! Here’s the deal:

By Wednesday, Jan. 9th, any Peabody student who earns 5 more AR points than she had on on Dec. 14th will be entered to win two tickets to a Grizzlies game!

This contest will give one student a chance to see the January 16th Grizzlies game against the Sacramento Kings (starring former U of M star Tyreke Evans). These are lower-bowl tickets across from the Grizzlies bench in section 116 — great seats! And it doesn’t matter how few or how many points your child already has — any child who earns 5 points before Jan. 9 will be entered to win!
So, how can you help?

First, encourage your kids to use some of their holiday downtime to pick up a good book! Beginning readers will need to read at least 10 books that are worth 0.5 points each, but more advanced readers can read just one or two longer books to score the five points they need.

Check out the AR BookFinder website to find out how many points books are worth. (And remember that kids don’t have to read the books by themselves — books read to them by parents count the same as books read alone, so you can work toward those Grizzlies tickets together!)

Second, once school starts back, take a few minutes to review the books together and then make sure your child takes AR tests on the ones they’ve read between Jan. 2 and Jan. 9. They can’t take tests at home, but as soon as they get back to school, they can take them before, during or after school.

Finally, check out the Parent’s Guide to AR here for more info on how to support your reader, including tips for reluctant readers, reading lists and more!

Happy Reading!

 

Hurray! You did it! You sold thousands of dollars in cookie dough to benefit Peabody Elementary!

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It’s on, Peabody kids.  Time to celebrate!  You sold more than 600 boxes of cookie dough and raised nearly $4,000 for our school! 

Now the fun part — prizes! 

This Friday… the last day of school… it’s party time!  Nearly everyone who sold cookies earned a dress down day on Friday, some sellers earned an ice cream party, and a few big sellers are headed to a school dance party! 

Look for a flyer in your child’s folder announcing prizes.  

Special congratulations to: 

Ms. Magbee’s 4th grade class! They sold the most cookie dough and have earned a class pizza party! 

The school’s top seller was Shyean Johnson from Ms. Crutchfield’s 1st grade class! She gets some super cool prizes.  Many thanks to Shyean and her family for working so hard for Peabody! 

Now the fun part for parents – help make the dance and ice cream party super fun.  We need dance/icecream party volunteers for this Friday. Bring a limbo stick or your best line dance moves.  Or.. just bring your fun self!  

We need you this Friday (December 14th) from 12:45-2:15.  Email Shelley Thomas mrsglenthomas@yahoo.com if you can help.  

She needs 5-6 volunteers to participate in this logistical wonder of gathering kids from classrooms, setting up a disco, and dishing out icecream!

Special thanks to Peabody mom Shelley Thomas for coordinating this fundraising campaign! 

Peabody Book Drive and Reading Initiatives

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Becoming a great reader is one of the most important jobs kids have in elementary school. Our teachers do a great job of helping them with that, but nothing beats the encouragement of a supportive parent! With that in mind . . . a few reading-related announcements!

  • On Thursday night at the Winter Program, we will be recognizing the Accelerated Reader leaders in each grade. The top point-getters in K-5 will receive a $25 Target gift card, provided by the Peabody PTA! We’ll also be announcing our January prize drawing for all students who have at least five points — it’s a FAN-tastic one (hint, hint)! Click here for more info on how you can help your student with AR over the holidays.
  • We have several openings for volunteers in the STAR tutoring program that targets students in 2nd & 3rd grade who are struggling with reading. If you’d like to learn more, please click here.
  • Winter break is a great time to read with your child or encourage them to do some fun (non-homework!) reading on their own. (They can even read while they’re watching TV!) But while many of our kids have plenty of books at home to choose from, others do not. If you have some books on your shelves that you would like to donate to a Peabody student who could use them, please put them in the box by the school office by THIS Wednesday (12/12). We’ll ask our teachers to send them home in the backpacks of kids who could use them on Thursday and Friday.

 
Happy reading and happy holidays to all!

 

Turn on Your TV’s Closed-Captioning and Turn Your TV into a Reading Tool

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We all know that reading books with your children and encouraging independent reading are the best ways to improve literacy.  But it’s just a fact – most of our kids watch TV.  During the holiday break, the likelihood increases that they will watch more TV.  

So why not turn your TV into a tutoring tool with one change – turn on the closed-captioning!

Join the Captions for Literacy effort and click the “CC” button on your remote or look for “closed captioning” on your remote menu.  

Watch this video in which former President Bill Clinton endorses closed-captioning as part of a global effort to increase literacy.